Having retired from rock climbing for about 30 years, I decided to brush up on my "skills" and headed to Yosemite for two days to spend some time with a guide from the Yosemite Mountaineering School. We spent the first day in Yosemite valley climbing slabs and cracks and covering basic anchoring techniques. Day two was spent climbing 8 of the 9 Echo Peaks. We climbed #1, #2, #3, #5, #6, #7, #9 and #8. #4 was skipped, as being a bit far and would have made the day too long. #3 was a most satisfying summit, #6 was the most fun w/o a rope and #9 was a life-altering experience. We traversed right instead of left and ended up in 5.8+ territory, which I can barely climb WITH a top-rope. It ended up okay; there is a very fine summit register going back over 30 years and providing proof that this summit is not often visited. I am absolutely amazed that Josh downclimbed this thing!!! Of course, without a rope, what choice did he have? We had two ropes and used them both for a short rappel to a great ledge (which we missed on the way up) and for a second 160 ft. rappel down the completely vertical north side. (I'll get #4 and Cathedral Peak on my next trip to Yosemite).

Day 2 of the 2002 Mountaineers Challenge. Vishal and I spent 4hrs climbing eight of the nine. Order: 5-6-4-3-2-1-7-8 We skipped 9 since we didn't have a rope. If you look at 9 from the summit of 3, it looks damn-near impossible. This was Vishal's intro to class 4 climbing. He climbed in trekking shoes, while I climbed in tennis shoes. Peak 4 from the east side was the scariest. Trip Report.

Bagged these on my Cathedral Range traverse in the following order: 8, 9, 7, 6, 5, 1, 2, 3, 4. At 5.7, number 9 is an interesting free solo. For a moment, I wished I had a rope so I didn't have to downclimb it, but everything went fine (despite the terrible rock quality).

Monty and I climbed Cockscomb first, then up and over Echo Ridge, then all nine of Echo Peaks' summits. #9, #6, #3, and #4 were the most fun. The last one we climbed was #4, and is was pitch dark before we finished the rappel into Echo Creek drainage. That was particularly fun, holding a flashlight in our mouth while rapping. Trip Report

After bagging Cathedral Peak and Eichorn Pinnacle I jogged over to the Echo Peaks. Ryle was planning on meeting me at Echo Peak #9 and climbing it with me.

I bagged the first 8 Echo Peaks on my own, not really following the routes described in the guide book. I never encountered climbing harder than easy 5th class. After finishing the first 8 peaks, I headed over to #9 and waited for Ryle to arrive. I waited for more than an hour and a half, but Ryle never showed up. After lying in the sun for 90 minutes, I lost all motivation and headed back to the car where I waited another two hours for Ryle. Sometime I'll have to go back and do #9.